Shattered
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: It's a fight gone wrong. Kevin's down for the count in the worst way. He's been shattered. *Rated T for one word


**A/N: This is something I came up with last night. In my opinion, I think it'll be one of my best. Only one bad word, so rated T just for that.**

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_**"Shattered"**_

The Highbreeds were coming, hard and fast at us. There was no way we could take them on by ourselves. I mean, sure, we _could_. In the process we'd be slaughtered and ripped to shreds. A couple of half alien teenagers and another one with an Omnitrix can't exactly do much against some of the most powerful beings in the universe. Other than Ben of course. Him and his ego.

Kevin was right there beside me, his mineral composite covered body glistening against the perfect snow on the ground. He was grinning like an idiot, as if it was all a good thing. To him, it was the highlight of his day. A good fight. Then to the garage to fix his car some more. I'd stay with him without a doubt. He'd drive me home, kiss me goodnight, and then leave to sleep in his car again.

I was shivering, waiting for the time to strike. Ben would call it any second now. I'd have to cover for them both while helping to fight of a Highbreed of my own.

Why do they insist on putting out so many rouge agents for if the world isn't taken over? Losing is a part of life! Get over it!

Jeez, I am absolutely pissed at this fight. I want it to be over already.

Ben was out front in Humongosaur form. I suggested Big Chill or even EchoEcho, but no one decides to listen to me. I'd told Kevin to be careful and he'd laughed in my face. He was just joking. He was always careful. And obnoxious and annoying. There, I got it out of my system. Fight time.

My cousin called out and the two of us behind him lurched forward, our feet thrumming rhythmically through the snow. There was crunching and I knew I'd need new shoes after this. Stupid Highbreeds. Plus, it was freezing. Cold and Gwen do not work well together.

I threw up my pink shield of mana, which Ben immediately jumped over to initiate his own sort of alien attack.

Kevin was standing beside me, pausing to think something over. A determination was in his eyes and his gaze cast over to me. "Be careful, Gwen," he murmured and leaned a little closer to me, our faces barely inches apart. I was expecting a kiss, but then, without warning, he leapt forth into the action. He didn't give a second glance back.

He laughs in my face when I say it, but then can sound so serious when it's about me. That boy makes no sense. I felt somewhat neglected. He left me for a fight.

I made sure to put up a shield around either of them whenever a Highbreed's fist got to close for my comfort or when they seemed to be struggling to hold their own grounds. I was a protector, one from a distance.

That was how it went wrong. I missed one of them.

Suddenly, a figure was hurtling through the air towards a building made with some kind of alien metal. It was a form I knew wasn't a Highbreed. It was small, a mixture of gray, brown and shades of blue. "Oh my god." The words slipped and I wanted so badly to go to him. Ben needed me though. I couldn't leave him in the middle of a fight. Not now. Not yet.

A bloodcurdling cracking sound filled my ears, drowning out the cries of the monsters we fought when it reached their sensitive senses. It was like glass being crushed by an iron fist. After that, there was a thud and a grunt. The Highbreeds all dropped to their knees stopping the fight just as soon as it had started. The sound had hit an acute sense of theirs causing serious pain.

I turned to see something I never thought could happen. He'd shattered. Kevin was lying face down in the snow, the pieces of his armor cracked around him, half hidden with whiteness. His bare skin was exposed to the cold.

My mind stopped cold. Bare skin. His dark hair. An actual flesh and blood hand was flat in the snow.

Ben was screaming something. I couldn't tell what it was. I had to leave Kevin for now even though my mind was telling me to get him. There were other things that I needed to take care of first. Those monsters would pay dearly for what they did to him.

That was, if they hadn't already disappeared. Ben was racing to my side. "Wha-"

I didn't let him finish. My instinct had taken over. I'd already run off to check on Kevin. He was mine. He was the one I loved. If he was gone… I'd be crazy. He wasn't gone. He couldn't be.

Skidding to a stop in the snow, nearly slipping and doing a face-plant, I got down to the ground and struggled to roll him over. "Kevin," I breathed. "Don't do this to me." He's practically made of muscle, and it made him heavy. I loved it though. I loved _everything_ about him. "You've got to get up." Tears were already streaking my face when I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. He wouldn't move. "Now, Kevin! This isn't funny!" I was crying by that point, eyes burning and all.

"Gwen," Ben said, catching up to me all over again. He helped me shift our friend onto his back. "Gwen, they took off his armor."

Seeing it another time was worse. The first was after Michael Morningstar had taken me. He'd knocked Ben out of Omnitrix form and ripped off Kevin's shield like it was wrapping paper on Christmas. Nothing.

It happened again when we were in his garage and the Highbreed attacked us, he'd jumped in the way, taking the punch that would've killed me. His eyes had fluttered closed and I was scared for him. Just moments before that we'd been ready for our first kiss. Someone always has to ruin it.

There was the time with Vulkanus. He'd used Kevin and torn him to pieces with just one crystal. That was all it took.

Now, it was happening again.

I stroked his ebony locks. There was a long red slash along his face where the different minerals had combined to form his new appearance after the accident. Another was across his powerfully built chest, deeper and sodden with dark red blood. "Come on, Kevin. Get up," I whimpered. My throat was closing on me, swelling up like the tears in my eyes.

"The Highbreeds left," Ben confirmed for me. "The sound scared them away."

My brain scarcely took that fact in. I was too panicked over the one in the snow, his body freezing as I cried. "We hav- we have to get him help," I choked out, fighting back the emotions.

He only nodded and touched the Omnitrix, and spinning it a bit before landing on Jetray. My cousin pressed down and his features morphed to change into the red and yellowish orange alien with the wings like a bat. He could carry Kevin easily through the sky. I would only have to follow. Somehow.

"Can't we take the car?" I offered, not wanting to leave his side for even a second. I could drive. Sort of. "It'll be easier." That was a fat lie. Flying would be faster by far. Especially with Jetray.

"Not unless you want to risk it, Gwen," Ben pointed out. His eyes were laced with gloom. He was nervous too. "We might lose him. There's a lot of blood already."

Thinking quick, I suggested another idea. "I could patch him up in the backseat while you drive." This wasn't a battle I was going to lose.

But I did anyways. Ben took off with Kevin in Jetray's clawed feet, not wanting to put a life in jeopardy. His rule was no sacrifices. My rule was stay with Kevin. Mine had been broken because of a leader's stupidity.

"Damn you, Benjamin Tennyson," I cursed, darting to the green car parked outside another building. It was incompletely concealed by the blizzard. I had to dig my fingers through the thick colorless sheets of snow to find the handle to open the door. I didn't have the keys. I'd have to hotwire it.

The lessons Kevin gave me in car building and theft paid off. The engine was rumbling in minutes, the heater's waves slamming into my face at full force. It was ready. I pulled the gearshift and let the wheels hit the frosty road. The car crawled forward at a slow pace.

I kicked it up a notch, knowing Kevin needed me. No one broke Kevin without me getting back at them. No one. Going after Ben suddenly didn't seem so important. Finding those missing Highbreeds did.

Turning the car sharply, the tires' traction gave way for a moment, and then recovered fully to turn back to the battlefield we had just been on. I made sure that the pedal was to the metal. There was no way I was leaving those Highbreeds alone when they'd shattered him. They were about to get a beat down they wouldn't forget.

Good thing those suckers weren't very fast.

At that second, there were only two things I was craving. The revenge. That was simple enough to understand. I wanted to butcher those monsters until they were little shreds that I could feed to my goldfish. The other thing was his eyes. I wanted to see them open and be glad that he was alive. I wanted to see that sparkle of enthusiasm when he saw me. When I was there beside him.

Nope. Highbreeds come first because those things are what caused him pain. Ultimately, they were screwed. Never piss off Gwendolyn Tennyson.

Never.

I let the car stutter to a stop just ahead of the creatures and I got out to face them. "Which one of you threw him?" I snarled loudly, my voice echoing off the blanket of flurries. "Who broke Kevin?"

Since their expressions are practically unreadable, I couldn't tell what they were thinking. I pretty much knew they weren't getting anywhere. Actually, screw that goldfish. It could starve. I'd let their hides rot here.

My arms had goosebumps, and the hair on the back of my neck was standing up. It was cold, but I was battle ready.

The first Highbreed moved only a centimeter and I bashed him into the ground with my mana harder than any of them could've thrown Kevin. Something cracked and I knew my fury was a good a weapon as any. My wrath could lash out to all the Highbreeds in the universe, but I still wouldn't be satisfied until I'd redeemed him.

"TELL ME!" I howled, taking down the next one. An earth-breaking screech erupted from this one's throat before it was forever silenced by my mana's crushing power.

Man, I never knew I could be so violent.

Two more were left standing and I could sense their horror as they saw that their fallen comrades were gone for good. Then their sights turned to me. "You!" they called, a bit of a command.

"Yeah, me! Who'd you think? The boogey man?" My sarcasm even surprised me.

Another came forth for an attack and he was put down simply. I crushed him with a block of mana that crashed into his head. The tall, lithe body crumpled to the ground, ooze spilling out of a wound right where I'd struck it.

A song came floating through my mind. "Another one bites the dust," I murmured, with a bit of amusement and a quiet laugh.

Kevin. His face came to my mind, so hurt and broken, that gash ruining his perfection and clearly defining his torture. The worst thing occurred to me at that moment. I hadn't even checked his pulse to see if his heart was even still beating. He could've been gone and I hadn't even known.

A shriek roared from my throat as I swept the legs out from under the last one. It collapsed in the depths of the frozen earth. I kept going. My retaliation wasn't ready to end.

His face was still covering my vision, blacking out everything else. I wanted to see him. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to feel his lips against mine one more time. I wanted to know he was fine. I was killing for him, as if more lives would make up for the one I'd lost.

This last one took my breath away when it rose. I was ready to take it out. The energy around my hands was itching to slay it right there. I let the flickering pink color die out. My stance softened and I stood up straight again, the snow still falling thickly around me. "Get out of here before I change my mind," I growled.

It scampered away like a frightened puppy.

"And make sure you don't come back!" I yelled.

With that done, I let myself fall into the snow, tears staining my cheeks and turning to ice there. The car was still behind me, waiting idle for a driver. The heat poured out, but I didn't move yet.

His life had been shattered, ripped away before he could fight it to the death. I knew he was gone. His mana was everywhere, but I couldn't trace him. "Kevin." The word was a cry to the sky where I hoped he could hear me. He was there, and he'd wait for me. He was loyal like that.

The white flakes covered me in a thin layer and I finally had to get up. The car would wait forever until I got back in. That door shut behind me and the tears melted, falling harder now.

The engine purred back into motion and the wheels sputtered beneath the body of it. I shouldn't have even driven it. It wasn't mine, but it was coated a thousand times over with his love and his mana. I drank it in.

After pulling into a parking space, I set a brisk pace up to the hospital that I had traced Ben to. He hadn't called and I had to find it myself. And I still couldn't trace Kevin.

"Gwen," Ben muttered quickly when I reached him, but I pressed his words away to ignore them, walking into the room beyond.

He was there. Stitches crossed his chest, sealing the injury there. His face was bandaged in a few places, but the scratches there weren't bleeding. An oxygen mask was taped to his face and needles were jabbed into his arms in a few places. His frame was still moving, still taking in air.

I covered my mouth with one hand and leaned against the wall, needing to catch my breath. His mana was everywhere and I could sense it. He was traceable again. The machines must have messed me up.

Ben approached me again. His hands fell comfortingly to my shoulders. "Gwen, he's gonna make it. Don't worry."

Those were the only words I needed to hear. But I still stayed by his side that night.

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**A/N: If you've read 'Breathe', you'll know I have never had the heart to kill off Kevin. This one, I was seriously debating whether to actually try it or not. Comments?**

**~Sky**


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